Author: Phil Miller, Arts Correspondent, The Herald

A REVOLUTIONARY musical tuition scheme that has transformed the lives of children in South America and Stirling could soon be heading to Glasgow.

The Govanhill area of the city is bidding to become the latest to adopt the intense tuition scheme based on the lauded El Sistema method in Venezuela.

Since 2008, children in the deprived Raploch scheme in Stirling have been taught classical musical instruments under the Big Noise scheme, and now other towns and communities in Scotland are looking to launch their own orchestra – with Govanhill aiming to be in the lead.  Anne Lear, director of the Govanhill Housing Association (GHA), said the plans were in the earliest stage of development but said: “We are working hard, along with Govanhill Community Development Trust, to have Sistema come into the area.  We think it would be perfect for the area, and would bring a lot of people together.”

Ms Lear believes the El Sistema system, run like the Big Noise project in Raploch, could be based in one of the buildings owned by the housing association or the trust. There would be no shortage of young musicians – there are four primary schools and one of the biggest secondary schools in the city, Holyrood Secondary, in the area.

To work on the same scale as Big Noise in Stirling – which costs around £600,000 a year to run – the Govanhill scheme would need support from Glasgow City Council. The Govanhill area is ethnically diverse – 40% of the population are from a minority ethnic origin, with nearly 30% of GHA’s housing stock let to people from a minority ethnic background.

Last year a Government report found that Big Noise had transformed self-confidence and self-esteem in children in Raploch. The report found “a sense of achievement and pride, improved social skills, team-working skills and expanded social networks”.

In Raploch, children learn to play the violin, viola, double bass, cello, trumpet, trombone, French horn, euphonium, clarinet, oboe, flute, bassoon and percussion, all free of charge. The Olympics has honoured the project’s work by choosing the Big Noise children, along with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra – led by perhaps the most famous product of El Sistema, Gustavo Dudamel, now music director of the LA Philharmonic – to open the London 2012 festival with The Big Concert on June 21.

George Anderson, of Sistema Scotland, the charity that runs the Big Noise in Raploch, said: “There seems to be a real head of steam building up in Govanhill and it looks like a very strong contender to have its own Big Noise orchestra.

“Big Noise Raploch was launched to demonstrate that this idea from Venezuela could work here in Scotland.  Three-and-a-half years later we can see that it is doing just what we hoped it would – transforming the lives of a new generation of children who are happier, better-behaved and more able to concentrate thanks to the orchestra.”

He added: “We are keen to spread this effect and get some more Big Noise centres up and running as soon as we can. We are in advanced talks concerning a number of areas around the country.”

Any new orchestra will be overseen by Sistema Scotland, which will help establish further Big Noise centres or “nucleos” as they are called in Venezuela.

Sistema Scotland will raise 25% of the costs of each new centre, and look to local authorities – in Govanhill’s case, Glasgow City Council – to be responsible for arranging the rest of the funds, which would not necessarily be public money but could include money from private sources, trusts and charities.

The individual orchestras, with their teams of dedicated musicians and tutors, will also be run by Sistema Scotland.

Govanhill Housing Association was formed in 1974 and the Govanhill Community Development Trust is its subsidiary that owns and manages commercial properties in the area. Last week Stirling Council’s executive agreed unanimously to continue support for Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise children’s orchestra in Raploch.

An abundance of ‘green energy’ at Scoonie Bowling Club has marked the end of the club with a new beginning. Community transport group MyBus intends to resume bowling at the famous Leven club on the first day of April – barely six months after it looked as if the last shot had been played.

The facility at Scoonie Crescent closed at the end of the 2011 outdoor season, after 90 years of sporting tradition and cameraderie. Members, many of whom were aged over 70, felt taking on the running of the club would financially be too heavy a burden, after an approach to do so by Fife Council.

However, within days of the closure, a consultation was mounted by MyBus and APW Associates CIC, of Kirkcaldy, asking what people in Leven would like the bowling green and clubhouse to be used for.  The vast majority of respondents wanted bowling retained at the green, and talks continued with Fife Council.

MyBus chief executive officer Mary Parry was delighted this week to confirm that bowling was coming back – and April 1 was the target opening date.

Work would be carried out to upgrade the kitchen and make the toilets more acessible, said Ms Parry, and MyBus would be forming a development trust to help with the club’s management.  A clean-up of the surrounding paths has already started, while MyBus is also teaming up with Elmwood College to offer greenkeeping training.

“It’s going to be a community bowling club but there will be members too,” said Ms Parry. “We hope to form a committee with the community, MyBus and the members.”

The mix of paid staff and volunteers had planned to run the club as a financially independent social enterprise, while raising funds and seeking grant assistance.  The green is likely to be open to the public on a membership or pay-as-you-play basis. Ms Parry said a number of bowling devotees among MyBus’ lunch club members, who could no longer play, would be able to come along and enjoy the games.

“I think it could be great inter-generational thing,” she added.

There are “real and present” risks to the independence of the voluntary sector, with support for disadvantaged groups under particular threat, warns the Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector in the first of five annual assessments published today, pointing to the Work Programme as an important example. 

Threats to the three aspects of voluntary sector independence – of purpose, voice and action – have existed for some time, says the Panel, but have been considerably heightened by cuts in public spending and other income, and the way in which contracts are awarded. This means that some organisations have to choose between closure and agreeing to sub-optimal delivery. 2012 will be a crucial year, the Panel’s assessment says. 

The Panel, which has created a Barometer to measure voluntary sector independence, points to six major challenges: 

• The effects of a contract model which favours large, often private sector, organisations and can be unnecessarily restrictive 

• The inability of the voluntary sector to influence service design and delivery or funding models 

• The blurring of boundaries between public, for profit and voluntary sectors, which may mask important differences and dilute independence 

• Pressure for self-censorship, with some organisations fearful of using their voice 

• Pressure on independent governance, as trustees seek to balance survival and independence 

Regulation and safeguards for independence that may not be sufficiently robust. 

Independence is crucial to a vibrant democratic society, the report points out, helping the sector to meet diverse needs that are often not recognised or properly met by others, such as working with the homeless and socially excluded, and ensuring a strong voice for marginalised groups or unpopular causes. There are concerns that paying organisations only if and when results are achieved can disadvantage both small organisations, with limited reserves, and the service users who are hardest to reach and need most support. 

The Panel examined the contracting arrangements under the Work Programme, which illustrate some of these concerns. Some voluntary sector organisations were squeezed out or ended up as sub-contractors to the private sector, with limited influence over contracts and the quantity or quality of their work, and suspicions that some had been used as ‘bid candy’. Only two voluntary sector organisations became prime contractors out of a total of 18, and one of those is an alliance of a registered charity in Ireland and a for profit company. This was despite ministerial support for the importance of the sector in this work. 

Chair of the Panel, Dame Anne Powers, said: 

“Governments of all political parties have stressed the importance of the voluntary sector. But there needs to be more than a soft, unfocused admiration for a Big Society or Third Sector. Central and local government and private sector partners have to recognise the sector’s hard edge: its independence, distinctiveness and ability to speak out from experience. If the voluntary sector is perceived to be simply the delivery arm of the statutory or private sector, or appears indistinguishable from either, it will lose the public trust on which it depends for volunteers, donations and tax benefits. Everyone will be poorer. 

“The next year will be crucial. Lessons can be learnt, and there are opportunities, as well as risks: for example embedding social value in contract terms, or using the review of the Charities Act 2006 to strengthen safeguards and support. Our Barometer of independence is at present indicating stormy weather ahead. Next year, we will gauge whether it is rising or falling.” 

The Panel calls urgently for greater commitment in practice from the government and the private sector to protecting independence of the sector. In particular, 

• Recognising and respecting the distinctiveness and independence of voluntary organisations in funding, commissioning and other joint working arrangements, for example taking into account the social value they create when awarding contracts and encouraging their independence of voice; 

• Understanding the diverse needs and value of different parts of the sector, including those of smaller voluntary organisations for whom complex procurement processes can be a major barrier. 

Local Community Transport Charity Buchan Dial-a-Community Bus (DACB) was proud to host ‘An Audience with Alex Salmond MSP’ on Monday, January 23. 

The charity decided on the title of ‘An Audience with Alex Salmond MSP’ for their New Bus fundraising event as it gave the scope to invite a variety of people from the community to engage directly with their local MSP and Scotland’s First Minister.

Chairman, Gordon Reid, commented: “We felt that this was a great opportunity to have the First Minister in Maud, speaking to our local community as well as to other voluntary groups, so we realised that we should do our best to ensure that we made it as open as possible.” 

Mr Reid explained that the evening also gave DACB the chance to update people on the developments within Community Transport both nationally and locally, as well as with the charity’s associated Social Enterprise:

“DACB has come so far over the last few years and we’ve no plans to stop yet; there is still a lot to do to enable everyone in our community to live and travel as independently as we would all expect to. 

“It seemed to be sensible to take the chance to update people who perhaps don’t hear about the range of work we do on an everyday basis. 

“And at the same time highlight the amazing work that Community Transport does in Scotland as a whole”. 

John MacDonald of the Community Transport Association asked Mr Salmond whether the Government could consider extending the Scotland-wide bus concessionary fare scheme to the types of services offered by Buchan Dial a Community Bus . Though many users have the concession they cannot use it on most community transport services. Mr Salmond said that there was a good case for looking again at the scheme and that this would be considered by the Government.

Mr Salmond added: “I was delighted to attend this event to help highlight the valuable service Dial-a-Community Bus provides to North East communities. 

“Dial-a-Community Bus offers Buchan residents and groups a variety of support services and is key in the provision of community transport across Aberdeenshire. 

“I’d like to thank the staff and the volunteers who are the real driving force behind the charity, for their continued hard work and commitment.”

Housing associations are enlisting credit unions to stave off an anticipated wave of rent arrears and evictions when the UK Government’s universal credit replaces housing benefit in 2013

Two Ayrshire housing associations have approached local credit unions to seek their services for tenants, and the issue has been raised at a national meeting of housing association chief executives, according to Carol McHarg of 1st Alliance (Ayrshire) Credit Union.

The news comes as the Scottish Government has expressed an interest in capping the rate of interest that high-cost payday lenders such as Wonga.com can charge borrowers. Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing told a parliamentary debate on payday lenders: “If there is a cap for credit unions, why is there no cap for other lenders?” Ewing also attended a meeting of the Cross-Party Group on Credit Unions on 18 January to discuss a potential levy on payday lenders to fund the promotion of credit unions.

Speaking to Holyrood, McHarg said: “It’s really hard for people on benefits to budget sometimes, and all of a sudden having this extra money coming in creates harder choices – do you buy your kid a pair of shoes or do you pay the rent that week?” Reforms to benefits included in the Welfare Bill currently making its way through Westminster will lead to a universal credit paid directly to social housing tenants, rather than to housing associations and private landlords, as housing benefit is now.

A COSLA briefing on the implications of the Coalition Government’s welfare reforms had previously warned of “an increase of rent arrears and evictions, sending households spiralling into debt and facing homelessness”. The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations warned its members to “take action in the interest of your tenants” ahead of the introduction of the reforms.

Andy Young, policy and strategy manager at the SFHA said: “Housing associations and co-operatives in Scotland promote a range of financial-inclusion initiatives to help tenants on low incomes to manage their finances. These will become more important as tenants’ incomes are threatened by unemployment, wage freezes and welfare reforms.

“SFHA promotes a range of tenancy sustainment initiatives to our members. Our 2010 publication Preventing and Alleviating Homelessness Guidance highlights financial inclusion issues and the existence and scope of credit unions “However, the welfare reforms currently being proposed by the Westminster Coalition Government will limit the Housing Benefit of some of the most vulnerable tenants and make life more difficult for them financially, and in paying their rent.

“That is why we are urging the UK Government to consider a number of changes to the reforms, including continuing to give tenants the right to choose to have their rent paid directly to their landlord to avoid getting into arrears.”

New challenge for civic Scotland

The Future of Scotland coalition has launched its website www.futureofscotland.org.  We are an alliance of civic society organisations in Scotland. Civic society is independent of government and works with citizens to promote the interests and views of communities.  Our group includes organisations from the third sector, unions and churches. 

Partners

Action of Churches Together in Scotland

The Church of Scotland

Centre for Scottish Public Policy

Faith in Community Scotland

Institute of Directors Scotland

NUS Scotland

Reform Scotland

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

STUC

Scottish Youth Parliament

The new website will create a space to open up the debate on the constitutional future of the country to people across Scotland. The site launch is just the beginning of the Future of Scotland’s online presence, with facebook and twitter accounts set to follow soon.

Alison Elliot, Convener, SCVO, said: “The website will help people keep up to date with the latest activity around the referendum debate. It will include exclusive Future of Scotland comment and opinion, and redirect visitors to other interesting articles and blog posts.  We encourage people to visit the site and register to get involved in the debate. A forum for visitors to post their own content will be available soon along with vox pop style footage of people from across Scotland sharing their views on the kind of Scotland they want to see.”

“People can also get involved by signing up online to attend our conference in Glasgow on 1 March. Both the conference and this new site will help us to build momentum for the debate, grow our coalition and bring this discussion about Scotland’s future to people in every part of the country.”

COMMUNITY scale green energy projects could be put out of business by Scottish Government plans to slash subsidy support for onshore wind and hydro schemes, the SNP has been warned.  Under current proposals, subsidy levels for hydro schemes would be cut by half and for onshore wind projects by a tenth, so funds can be diverted to newer forms of renewable technology, such as wave and tidal projects.

Dozens of small-scale community-owned wind and hydro schemes are springing up, generating tens of thousands of pounds a year. However, community groups have warned in response to a government consultation that the subsidy changes would make these small-scale projects uneconomical. The Isle of Gigha was the first community in the UK to develop a grid connected, community-owned wind farm. Its three turbines, known locally as the Dancing Ladies, generate £75,000 profit each year and provide two thirds of the island’s electricity.

Lukas Lehmann, development manager for Gigha Renewable Energy, which made use of the renewables obligation system of subsidies to develop the scheme, said he had “serious concerns” about the planned reductions. It would have “a seriously detrimental impact on proposals being developed by other communities, both on other islands and on the mainland,” he said.

Like groups responding to the consultation, he thinks the subsidies should be left at existing levels for community projects up to 10 megawatts, equivalent to about five turbines. He added: “A blanket reduction for all onshore wind will have a disproportionate impact on smaller developments where unit costs are higher, and as such, will disproportionately impact upon the development of community owned schemes.”

The Scottish Government has a target of 500 megawatts of community-owned renewables schemes built, which would require hundreds of projects. Many of the 140 groups and individuals that responded to the Consultation on Review of Support Levels Under Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Legislation said achieving this target would be hampered by the subsidy change.

Mo Cloonan, charity development manager for charity Community Energy Scotland, said: “This will undermine the ability of Scotland’s communities to meet the Scottish Government’s community energy target and the ability to install sufficient renewable generation to meet government targets for renewable deployment and carbon emission reductions.”

David Stewart, policy and strategy manager at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, asked the Scottish Government to reconsider.

He said renewables were becoming increasingly attractive for housing associations trying to provide affordable energy and generate funds for their communities, with Berwickshire Housing Association, Fyne Homes, Grampian Housing Association, Link Group and Ore Valley all pursuing schemes.

Angela Williams, development manager of the Knoydart Foundation, which runs a community-owned hydro scheme that supplies green power to 77 properties on the Knoydart peninsula in the west Highlands, warned that if the subsidies for hydro were slashed by half it would mean “prices will increase to the extent where people will look for other non renewable sources of energy to power their homes”.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Ministers will be analysing their options over the coming weeks, and announcing their decision on changes to the ROS during the spring.”

The Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum – the umbrella body for community controlled  housing associations – has responded to the Scottish Housing Regulator’s consultation on “The Regulation of Social Housing in Scotland”.

GWSF has expressed concern that the consultation document does not do enough to recognise the generally strong performance of housing associations in Scotland, or the diversity that exists within the sector.

The response sets out many specific suggestions on how the Regulator should improve its proposals, for example in relation to:

• Monitoring and reporting on the Scottish Social Housing Charter in a more proportionate way;

• Meeting its legal duty to say how it will vary its approach for different sizes and types of organisations;

• Setting governance standards that better reflect the independent status and local democratic accountabilities of most Scottish housing associations;

• Abandoning the flawed proposals to set mandatory maximum terms for voluntary committee members, and to introduce payment for committee members.

GWSF’s response includes a detailed evidence paper on mandatory maximum terms for committee members. The evidence paper confirms that the Consultation Document is factually incorrect and that the Regulator’s numerous public statements that its proposals “would align practice in RSLs with what happens in other sectors” are inaccurate and misleading.

A specific  response to the proposal for mandatory terms of office for committee and board members can be read here.

A full response to the Scottish Housing Regulator’s consultation can be read here.

In 1891 a young barrister named Frank Tillyard began offering free legal advice at the Mansfield House settlement in West Ham in East London. He became known as the Poor Man’s Lawyer, and within a few years similar services were running at Toynbee Hall in Whitechapel and in many other places.

Conditions were difficult. There was no funding for this work, and demand was so high that the lawyers were only able to spend ten minutes with each client.

Nevertheless, this was the beginning of the campaign for a nationwide legal and advice centres movement. As early as 1902 the annual gathering of the settlements movement called for a state funded legal aid scheme, and by 1939, when the first Citizens Advice Bureau was set up, there were 125 Poor Man’s Lawyer schemes across the country.

Settlements continued to play a prominent and pioneering role in this field, and in the 1970s the work of the Birmingham Settlement established the nationally accepted standards for Money Advice work.

I think we should be very proud of the growth of the advice movement, from its small beginnings in the East End, to becoming one of the great third sector success stories, achieving redress against injustice and poverty for hundreds of thousands of people each year.

So how tragic to see the systematic dismantling of this movement today! Legal Aid is no longer available for many cases. Advice and legal services were among the main victims of last year’s slash-and-burn local spending cuts. In Newham, the birthplace of this movement, the town hall bosses have declared that advice services foster dependency, and will no longer be funded.

And to cap it all, last week I heard that Birmingham Settlement lost its bid to retain its contract with the regional probation service for its famed and highly successful money advice service. It was undercut on price by a national charity, Nacro, which apparently has no track record locally in this specialist field.

Now, I’ve got nothing against competition, or change, or against Nacro for that matter. It’s not the large national charities which are the real problem. What I object to is the incompetence of procurement panels which have no local knowledge, nor interest for that matter, and which are seduced by the false ‘economy of scale’ argument. In their eagerness to drive down costs, they appear to ignore the most important point, that services of this nature have little value unless they are any good, and that to reject community-driven services with a first rate track record is most unlikely to be in the best interests of the community – or ultimately of the public purse.

My new year’s resolution for Locality is this: in 2012 we will need to redouble our efforts on several fronts. We will need to speak out more strongly about the value of high quality locally-determined and locally-delivered services. We will need to remind people why some things, like advice services, matter so much. And we will need to expose the wretchedness of so much mean-spirited short-sighted public procurement, which is failing our citizens and our communities so badly.

And my New Year’s message to Locality members is this: I think we should be very proud of what we can achieve individually and as a movement. There is work our members are undertaking today which will have as far-reaching benefits in a hundred years time as Frank Tillyard’s work at Mansfield House a hundred years ago. But all social gains require constant vigilance, otherwise they will be eroded and lost. So where you are achieving a pioneering breakthrough, where there are important services under threat, where there is rotten procurement practice, let me know, and let’s see if together, by collecting evidence and pressing for change, we can make this a happier new year for our communities across the country.

Scottish Community Alliance is recruiting a Community Advisor to help deliver JESSICA Trust’s objectives. For more information click here

The following  article appeared in SURF’s quarterly journal – Scottish Regeneration.  Nov 2011.

When we talk about regeneration today, we increasingly talk about resilience. Indeed it was the theme of SURF’s annual conference earlier this year. Regeneration isn’t simply about making immediate improvements to neighbourhoods, but about ensuring communities are able to withstand the future challenges of a turbulent world, re-group, organise and take action for themselves in the face of difficulty, and are set up to learn from experience.

As important as it is to create housing, communications and business facilities that are attractive to employers and residents, physical investment has to be accompanied by steps to build the capacity of local people and strengthen local organisations. To genuinely address long standing disadvantage and social problems in our communities we must recognise that resilience is a function of the people and organisations within them. The JESSICA (Scotland) Trust, currently being established by the Scottish Community Foundation with an endowment from the Big Lottery Fund and expected to be operational from Spring 2012, has an exciting and timely opportunity to test out doing regeneration differently.

The Scottish Government and European Investment Bank are establishing a £50m JESSICA fund to provide loan finance for physical developments in the 13 local authority areas currently eligible for ERDF support . Alongside this, the Big Lottery Fund is providing £15M to establish the new independent JESSICA (Scotland) Trust to make grants and loans and commission or deliver programmes of activity that catalyse or implement community-led regeneration. Operating across the same 13 areas, the intent is for the Trust to complement and enhance the larger JESSICA infrastructure investments.

With up to ten years to apply its £15M endowment the Trust will be an independent, innovative and flexible vehicle, able to take a long-term approach, act on emerging learning and adapt to a changing environment.

In developing our thinking about how the Trust can best achieve its aims, we have sought input particularly from SURF and the newly formed Scottish Community Alliance to consider how to best link the Trust to Scotland’s current regeneration context and to developments in community empowerment, particularly around asset development and community enterprise.

A key conclusion is that the harnessing and controlling assets and services can contribute to community regeneration, but that communities need support to facilitate this. Ownership of local assets gives communities a chance to ensure that local land or buildings are retained in productive use and enables them to use those assets to provide locally relevant services. Additionally, assets can generate income from rent or trading to be reinvested in the community. Community-owned social enterprises also offer the opportunity to involve local people in delivering local services and maximise economic opportunities to retain wealth within communities by creating local employment and again, reinvesting profits in the community.

Developing locally owned assets and enterprises empowers communities to play a greater role in their future – promoting resilience and sustainable regeneration. Locally controlled income streams reduce reliance on competing for external funding to support services or invest in new projects, but can lever-in additional investment; the experience of managing assets and enterprises fosters increased skills and confidence amongst community-based organisations and promotes partnerships between them; it can lead to a more enterprising mindset, fostering a hands-on can-do attitude to address further needs or opportunities. Crucially, it also enables communities to be more active and credible partners alongside public agencies and others by allowing them to bring resources and capabilities to the table when local structures such as Community Planning Partnerships are planning or allocating resources. 

We recognise there are significant challenges to developing successful community-owned enterprises and achieving community ownership of assets in a way that is genuinely empowering and does not leave local volunteers drained of energy or enthusiasm or saddled with liabilities and unrealistic borrowing commitments. However, in many communities, anchor organisations such as development trusts or community-controlled housing associations are interested in pursuing such opportunities and there is a growing track record of such community-led bodies successfully doing so. Meanwhile, organisations such as the DTAS, Community Energy Scotland and CRNS offer support and advice drawing on the growing body of experience and expertise existing in community organisations around the country and further afield.

Our hope is that the JESSICA (Scotland) Trust can use its resources alongside the range of other development support, funding and investment opportunities available in Scotland to foster the further development of community-led initiatives that can connect to and enhance the impact of the physical projects that are enabled by the Scottish Government’s JESSICA fund. By offering affordable loan finance where there is current market failure and complementing this with grant aid and development support, the Trust can offer a supportive, engaged and flexible approach to finance that we hope will build on and extend existing good practice in community-led regeneration, contribute to developing learning, policy and practice and make some in-roads to breaking the cycle of poverty and disadvantage in some of Scotland’s poorer urban communities.

Nick Addington, Rachel Searle-Mbullu

Scottish Community Foundation

Nov 2011